Wellington County, Ontario GenWeb - Pioneer

Wellington County, Ontario GenWeb - Pioneer - McBRIDE, Thomas

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Pioneer - McBRIDE, Thomas

Biographical Sketches of
Early Settlers of Wellington County

Information from: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario.
Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906

McBRIDE, Thomas , was from Co. Tyrone, Ire., near Cookstown, and came to Guelph in March, 1828. He had arrived in Hamilton in the fall of 1827, and spent the winter there. During the winter he came up to Guelph, and made an engagement with Mr. Galt to clear the present Pike farm for Mr. Galt's son. In March, the family came to Guelph, and stopped for a time in the Priory, and then for a time lived where the Metropolitan Bank now stands. In the summer of 1828, they moved out to the farm, for which he paid Mr. Galt $2.50 per acre. Later he sold this to James Wilson, and then after buying and residing upon an adjacent farm, he bought 50 acres on the Dundas road, in Puslinch Tp., where he lived until his death. He had been a farmer in Ire., and his wife and five children came with him. He left a family of 14 children. Of these, three survived, Thomas, Margaret, in Guelph, and Francis, in Mount Forest.

Thomas was b. in Co. Tyrone, Ire., in 1822, and was five years old when his parents came to Canada. He went to school to David Matthews, in the old Canada Company's school. At 13 years of age, he was apprenticed to "Yankee" Hall of Essex St., to learn the carpenter's trade. After serving his time, he worked in Guelph until he retired about 1886. He m. Abigail Fredericks, sister of Mrs. J. W. B. Kelly. Issue: James, in Bell's organ works; George, London, and Mrs. Albert Jeffry, Guelph.

Mr. McBride is the oldest member of Norfolk Methodist Church, and he, with his sister Margaret of Guelph, and Francis McBride of Mount Forest, outside of Mrs. Mitchell, have been residents of Wellington County for a longer time than any others.

From: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario. Toronto:Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906